Finished #4 today... guess we start posting tomorrow... woo woo...

Just finished painting #3 for the challenge !

          It seems all I really need is a fire built under me to get me moving ! Ha !

     I just finished the 3rd one, and it's a bit bigger than usual.... but you'll have to wait til the new year to see these.  tee hee !

Stripey bouquet painting #85

SOLD

     I really do enjoy painting sunflowers.  They are now all gone from my favorite haunts, like Dierberg's floral shop, and Whole Foods, so I guess I will have to wait now til next summer or fall.     This grouping I painted as my demo at a local gallery.  I set up my still life and lots of my friends and family came to watch.  They had wine and cheese at the gallery.  They have an "Open House" once a month.... Fun !

30 paintings in 30 Days Challenge.

      I just joined this challenge, to paint 30 paintings in 30 days.  It's been a while since I've done one daily, and I need to get back to that discipline.  The new year is about as good a time as any, I figured.  Leslie Saeta from Artists Helping Artists is sponsoring her challenge.  Check it out, or JOIN it !!  great way to get motivated, and back in the Studio !!

     check it out here... http://artistshelpingartistsblog.blogspot.com/

Mary Janes for baby painting #84

 

     This sweet pair of Mary Janes was given to me by my dear sister, when she found them at one of her thriftstore 'haunts'....  We used to have antique booths together, you see, and some habits die hard.  I loved the pink on the insides of them, plus just the general look and feel of baby shoes, so they were a natural for paintings.   I really do love painting them, and the red patent leather ones, too !! ha ha

Peppers

 

     I took a picture of this awhile back, but didn't get a good shot .  I think this one is a better representative of the colors.  I used to scan my dry paintings, but then I got to posting them before they were dry, so I couldn't put them in the scanner....ha !   Carol Marine's workshop gave us helpful hints on photographing paintings to post the pictures.... The key is to work outdoors, no direct light, presto... it works !

Play with Me painting #83

 

     We used to wear oxfords when I was in school.   Brown and white was as popular a combination as the black and white variety.   These were the days LONG before velcro ! ha !  Mine were made by Spaulding, and they were expensive for mom to buy, so you were Very lucky when you were able to get a new pair... so proud !

Donkey Party shoes?? painting # 82

  SOLD

      My sis and I used to have booths at the antique mall right outside of St. Louis, and we had lots of fun buying, selling, painting furniture, and working together in this little business venture.   We have since given that up... (in the hopes of having more time to paint) but, I still have a few items from my accumulation.  I used to love to buy that old vintage stuff !  Well, this is a box from the old 'pin the tail on the donkey' game that we used to play at parties when I was little, back in the day.   Thought it would make a good accompaniment for these classic red patent leather mary janes.   Brings back memories of my daughter and grand-daughters tiny feet, too.

3 Gerberas in tiny vase painting #81

     I'm chillin' out listening to my classic Billy Joel this morning, and finishing a painting..... so enjoyable being retired !  I hope all of you 'worker bees' get to experience this.... it's fun !

background redo... painting #41

Which one do you like better?  I changed this background, cause it's always bothered me. I guess it was too intense of a color, so I toned it down, and gave it more of a neutral feel.... what do you think?

Birthday Present from my hubby...

 

     Actually, he DID have a little help picking this out, but I was thrilled, just the same !  I can't wait for the weather to get warmer now, so I can try this.  I've got it all 'stocked' and ready for Spring.
     While at Carol's workshop in Fish Creek last year, several of us got together and ordered online these cool boxes, with straps, to carry wet paintings after an afternoon en plein air painting.  It can adjusted to fit either 8 x 8, 6 x 8, or 6 x 6.  Perfect !

Gerbera mix painting # 80

  SOLD

     Rainy Sunday afternoon.... no sunflowers at Whole Foods today, so went with these gerberas.   The first batch I cut a little too short, so, combined them for a mixed bouquet.   Fun, especially when I don't have to cook dinner, cause it's great leftovers from my birthday dinner last night at this cool Italian restaurant, Charlie Gitto's, on the "Hill" in St. Louis !!   How many times do I get so lucky that my family flys in from Dallas to join in the birthday celebration??  Thanks Brad and Michael, for making my birthday sooo special !

Tiny vase painting #79

SOLD

     I'll admit it.... Garage sales, and yard sales get my heart thumpin'... Just can't help it, I'm addicted.  I used to have antique mall booths with my sister, and that gave me a perfect excuse to shop.  Now I've given that up, because it took soooo very much time, but I still have to get out there every Sat. morning, in case there is some treasure that might get by me !  ha 
     I found this darling little tiny triangular vase, along with a couple of other little guys that had some unusual shapes, and I was so anxious to try painting them.   Here's the first one.... It doesn't take much to make me happy, I guess.  ha ha

Original variety painting #78

SOLD

The original variety of sunflower, with the dark center, is hard to beat..... I never knew there were so many kinds until I started painting them.....

In the shadow painting #77

SOLD

     Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween.  I didn't paint a pumpkin this year (yet, anyway), and didn't carve one either.... too busy painting sunflowers, I guess.                         

Pears, persimmons, and periwinkle painting #76

SOLD

     Painted this the other day, and posted another one, so this one got moved and forgotten.... I know it's kinda 'busy', with lots going on, but I liked the color and brushstrokes.... ha !

Water shadow painting #75

SOLD

     Here's a different version of my sunflower... love the vase.  So fun to paint...

     These have turned into a series, without me even trying.  HA !

Eddie painting #74

 

     Here's Eddie, our sweet mail carrier, on the day he told me he was retiring.  I ran inside and got my camera for a snapshot I could paint his portrait as a retirement gift.  I still had the photos, so I thought I'd try it again, in my new style.   Actually, I worked on a white ground this time, and just REMOVED the lights !!!!  Pretty fun !

Sunflower 6 x 6 painting #73

 

     I had the setup, so I decided to do another version, with the square format.  I really do enjoy these flowers... (can you tell? ha ha)

Dark background painting #72

 

I thought I'd try a darker background today.  Hopefully I got enough contrast of values... Here's the progress during the process.
     I DID forgo the polka-dots for the sake of simplicity... ha  !

Wedding centerpiece painting #71

 

SOLD

     This is from a picture given to me years ago by a teacher at school.  She showed me this centerpiece from her daughter's wedding, because she loved the flower combination.   I just saw her at a happy hour this week, and started to search for this picture and found it.....  Since I've painted so many hydrangeas lately I thought I'd try it.  
         I discovered a cool method to compare my paint mixture to the photo.... I just painted a dab on the edge of the card, moved the card to the photo, and checked for intensity, hue and value.... woo woo !  it really worked !   try it !!!  (this picture of the chart and photo looks a little 'yellowish' because I took it with the light from my lamp, instead of a flash)

Complements painting #70

 

     These persimmons were a natural to fit into this periwinkle bowl of mine.  I've always loved this color (bowl) and it makes the persimmon color 'pop', I think....

silliness

ran across this while cleaning out my files, yesterday..... it gave me a chuckle !  (maybe only art teachers will find this funny... !)

Balancing act painting #69

 

They kept falling over, so I had to keep changing my painting... ha !  I had fun with the composition, though.  I need to shake it up a bit. !

Persimmon trio painting #68

 

     I've seen these in the stores, but never bought any until now.  I bought them particularly for painting, so now I'll have to see how to fix them so we can actually eat them ! ha !  I really had fun painting them !

Up Close and Personal painting #67

 

 

     Funny, how changing the light on the same subject can alter the look sooo dramatically.   So many different ways of looking at something !  LOVE IT !  (my daughter and I just had this conversation 5 minutes ago on the phone, how her photography, and my painting are similar in that respect)  
     I painted another version, and posted that one, too...

Autumn Tea painting #66

 
   I love to sip on hot tea when the weather gets cool.... My favorite is Ginger-Peach..... This pot is one I got quite awhile ago. I love the two-toned coloring and the shape. 

Yellow Centers painting #65

SOLD

     These had yellow centers, unlike the dark ones I'm used to.  They have an interesting green to the center, with a texture, too.  This one is a little one, measuring 6 x 6...

Grace's first sales......

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

    
  My granddaughter, Grace, who is 5 1/2 , loves to paint. (imagine that ?)  Anyhoo, the last weekend, she was playing outside and got bored.  Her dad said she disappeared inside the house and came out with her little table and her paintings with a sign on the front that said 'ART'... she had her own sidewalk art sale !  The picture is on my phone, or I'd post it.... it was soo cute...Unfortunately, they live on a quiet cul-de-sac, and don't get a lot of traffic......
     Anyway,  yesterday she painted 11 paintings, a bit bigger this time.  They were 12 x 12....   She sold 4 of them !!  Here are the two that her aunt bought, and I bought the one with the energetic blue lines.... PaPa has his picked out, too......
     Never too young, I say !!

Coffeebreak Rose 2

 

     Did I mention that these roses are HARD to paint !  whew, I'm trying my darnest !  This time I did put in a little sketch with my paintbrush first, which helped in the organization of it, but STILL..... It's really hard to get the freshness, as well as the stark contrast on the petals... never fear, I'm going to keep at it til the thing wilts !!!  ha ha

 

Roses are so hard to paint.... I wiped the first one, and kept the second, but I'm gonna keep painting it, until it gets easier !!!   (I could be all year ! ha ha )

Color Mixing Swatches

 

     I danced this morning, had my usual coffee date with a friend, and helped my daughter move into her new apartment, so I didn't have much time to do more than set up a new workable palette.  But.... as I was doing that, I decided to experiment with my colors, my "greens", especially.  
      I use only two yellows... Cadmium Yellow Lemon Pale, and Cadmium Yellow Medium.    They are actually quite different, with the later one taking on a more 'orangeish' hue.  The two blues on my palette are Ultramarine Blue, and Thalo Blue.... also quite different.  The Ultramarine leans more toward purple, and the thalo is more toward the greens.  I was actually quite amazed when I set out to mix the different combinations and record my findings...   To me, the two mixtures with the thalo are brighter, and more intense, while the two mixtures with ultramarine are both more soft and muted.   Of course, the proportions are estimated, so you can achieve lighter or darker values of these colors easily with more blue added to the mixtures, but I think the results are worth a 'look see'.....
YLP= Yellow Lemon Pale
CYL= Cadmium Yellow Light
Aliz. C= Alizarin Crimson
CRM= Cadmium Red Medium

     I found the oranges quite similar, with the same experiment of color mixing...  Maybe a little more intense with the combinations that contained the Cadmium Red Medium, as opposed to the Alizarin Crimson.   

Demo for local gallery- Sunflowers 9 painting #64

 

     The owner of a local gallery asked if I'd demonstrate my painting for their monthly gathering.  I enjoyed having my friends come and watch me and talk to all of them about my art.   One friend sat right by me from the start, and had so many questions.  It was a fun time.  Here's the finished painting.

Kirkwood House commission painting #63

SOLD

     A friend is putting a new house on this lot, and wants to share the memory of the old one with the former resident.   She commissioned me and I combined two photos to get the perspective and the awnings in there, that have been removed in recent years !

     I guess I failed to mention that the house is going to be taken down to build the new one.... ha ha

Sunflowers 8 painting #62

 

These are lasting awhile, so I'm gonna take advantage...  On this one I really liked the limegreen underpainting, and decided it worked !

Sunflowers 7 painting #61

 

     There are SO MANY different varieties of sunflowers !!  I was never aware of that, until I started painting them.   I still really love the traditional one the best because of the fantastic contrast in values.  I've finally gotten a new bouquet so I can tackle them a few more times..... so fun !

My Flickr Site

 Sandy's Flickr Site   (click here)

  I used to use this site all the time, but haven't put anything here for awhile..... This contains the student portraits I did when I retired, for a show in March 08.  Lots of other paintings are here, too.

Sunflowers 6 painting #60

   Tried the larger brush again, and found it to be MOST challenging.   I'm gonna keep at it, til I figure it out !  Tenacious or just Stubborn,  I don't know, ha ha !

Sunflowers 5 painting #59

     Trying for more SHAPE, and less LINE this morning.  Trying to get in the groove with these beautiful specimens !  I had to stick cut-off hanger wires into the stems to get them to stand up.... after one day they are soooooo droopy !